BRUSSELS — Apple will have to pay up to $14.5 billion plus interest in back taxes to Ireland after the European Union found Tuesday that the U.S. technology giant had paid next to no tax across the bloc's 28 countries for over 11 years.
The EU says that many multinationals — including Starbucks, Fiat and Amazon — struck deals with EU countries to pay unusually low tax in exchange for basing their EU operations there.
EU Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager said that a three-year investigation found Ireland granted such lavish tax breaks to Apple that the multinational's effective corporate tax rate on its European profits dropped from 1 percent in 2003 to a mere 0.005 percent in 2014.
That last tax rate meant that for each 1 million euros in profits, Apple paid just 50 euros in taxes, Vestager told a news conference.
"Member states cannot give tax benefits to selected companies. This is illegal under EU state aid rules," Vestager said.
"Ireland must now recover the unpaid taxes in Ireland from Apple for the years 2003 to 2014 of up to 13 billion euros ($14.5 billion), plus interest," the Commission said in a statement.
For Ireland, a country of barely 4.6 million people, that sum would be a huge windfall — equivalent to over $3,150 for every man, woman and child.
And yet the country's government said it would appeal the decision, arguing it had granted no favorable treatment to Apple.
"Ireland's position remains that the full amount of tax was paid in this case and no state aid was provided," the government in Dublin said in a statement. "Ireland does not do deals with taxpayers."
Read Wednesday's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette for full details.